Scratch Live 1.7.4 Release Notes

3 October, 2007

Scratch Live 1.7.4

The main focus of Scratch Live 1.7.4 is vastly improved sound quality. There is a new "Hi-Fi" resampler mode that uses an advanced modeling algorithm to produce a level of clarity not heard before in vinyl emulation technology. The new "hi-fi" option has cleaner, crisper sound that effects all audio playback at non-zero pitch, but really comes into its own when scratching.

We've also addressed some of the bugs that may affect sound quality, making 1.7.4 the best sounding Scratch Live version ever.

1.7.4 has even more improvements to the vinyl tracking, so you can get a little more out of those old beat up control records, and people with multi-core computers will notice a huge increase in speed when building overviews.

We recommend this update for all users.

Back up your data!

While we are confident that upgrading to Scratch Live 1.7.4 is safe, it's always better to be safe than sorry - we recommend that you safeguard your audio files, Scratch Live crates and configuration files by making sure you have a recent backup, prior to installing or upgrading.

- To back up your crates and configuration files follow the instructions at the bottom of this post.

- You should always keep an up to date backup of your audio files regardless of what release you're using, as these can easily be lost or corrupted by a hard drive or system failure even if you are not using Scratch Live.

Critical Updates

- Fixed problem introduced in Mac OSX 10.4.10, where unplugging the Scratch Live hardware would cause the Scratch Live software to lock up.

- Improved ID3 tag handling.

- Fixed the Numark iCDX not working on Mac OSX 10.4.9 or later.

Audio Quality Improvements

- Added a new "Hi-Fi Resampler" option to the setup screen. This significantly reduces digital distortion at very slow or very fast record speeds. This enhancement increases the CPU load slightly. The option is off by default, in which case the old resampler is used. If you have a low spec machine and experience performance issues with the Hi-Fi resampler on, try switching it off again.

- Fixed audible glitches due to a bug in the vinyl tracking algorithm that would occasionally cause playback to jump back 20ms and then forward again.

- Fixed a bug in the vinyl tracking algorithm that was causing low level digital background noise during slow scratches.

- Fixed audio glitches on the right hand channel when playing mono files.

- Fixed an audio glitch that sometimes occurred on song load.

- Fixed bug where moving the vinyl could cause clicks in internal mode.

Overview Builder

- The overview builder now uses multiple CPUs or processor cores, up to four files can be analysed on capable machines. This will significantly speed things up for those of you with more than one CPU or multi-core processors.

- Changed the overview builder so that it doesn't stop working when you are on the setup screen with the interface disconnected.

- Fixed the overview builder from trying to build files that are currently having their tags edited. There may still be a visual oddity where it appears to be stuck on a particular file, but it is actually just waiting for the rest of the tag edits to complete first.

- Fixed the overview builder to correctly display the number of tracks processing/processed when there are missing files in your library.

- Changed the batch analyser to have low priority so that you can still perform other computer tasks while using it.

- Auto-fill overviews now sets auto gain values if it has built the entire overview (if the overview builder only partially builds the overview, it won't set it).

- Fixed certain mp3s from incorrectly being marked as corrupt.

Other Changes

- Added support for multiple iTunes libraries. Scratch Live now loads whichever library iTunes is currently using.

- Instant doubles now transfers key lock and looping states between decks.

- Control vinyl tracking has been improved to work much better under harsh conditions (eg. bad needles, poor calibration, warn records etc.).

- Fix for a crash that could occur when ejecting an external drive, and you have crates containing tracks from both drives.

- Fixed a bug where tracks could get stuck marked as iTunes tracks on an external drive if you turn 'read iTunes library' off without that external drive plugged in.

- Fixed a crash on load that could occur with an incomplete (corrupted) database file.

- Fixed bug where corruption could occur on certain MP3s (those with tag padding of only a few bytes).

- Fixed bug where the collapsed subcrates on external drives would appear open next time Scratch Live was started.

- Improved stability of the overview builder and playback of MP3 files.

- When a track is in auto-gain mode (auto-gain is turned on and the track has an auto-gain setting), the track gain knob now appears depressed to provide visual feedback that auto-gain is in effect for that track.

- The indicator for battery time remaining on Windows Vista now updates correctly.

- Fixed cue point behavior when 'sort cues chronologically' is on so that the "add cue [i]x[/i]" keyboard shortcut replaces an old marker in that position

- Fixed bug where the autogain setting will be lost if you edit multiple tags at once, and those files haven't been played yet.

- Fixed a bug where the ID3v2.4 RVA2 frame was being written one byte too long. This could potentially have caused some other applications to be unable to read this frame, or successive frames in the tag.

- Fixed a bug where having an enormously wide column width in a crate could cause the library text to not show for that crate. For example, a file with an overly long comment would cause the entire contents of the track list to not display in the "All..." crate and any other crate containing that file.

- Fixed a problem where the waveforms wouldn't appear when loading a song in absolute mode while the record playhead is stationary.

- Fixed a problem where if you needle drop to before the beginning of the song in absolute mode, the waveform wouldn't appear until you cross the start line.

- Fixed a problem where holding down the estimate button on the setup screen was causing freezes on Mac.

- Fixed a problem where the 'estimate' buttons on the setup screen would neither apply nor save the calculated noise floor threshold until you moved the slider manually.

- Fixed a problem where editing the BPM of a track cleared newly added cue points.

- Fixed artwork not showing up after overview building on some beatport files.

Running more than one version of Scratch Live

Installing this version will by default overwrite any previous version you had installed, however it is easy to have more than one version of Scratch Live installed if you wish.

If you have an important gig coming up, you might like to stick with the version you know until you are comfortable with this version. Here's how to do it:Windows Users

Before installing, find the Scratch Live executable (by default it is in C:\Program files\Serato\ScratchLIVE, and rename it. It makes sense to name it in a way that suggests which version of Scratch Live it is. For example, if you're renaming Scratch Live 1.9.2 call it Scratch Live 1.9.2.exe. When you install the new version, the old executable will not be deleted, and you can choose which you want to run by going into that folder and double clicking on the appropriate executable.

Mac users

Before installing, rename the existing application file as above (eg. Scratch Live 1.9.2) - you have to be admin to rename it. (If you aren't admin, you can copy it to another location, and then rename it.)

Backing up your data

Before you make any changes to your Scratch Live setup, including installing a new version, as a general rule we highly recommend that you backup your data and your music files. The easiest way to backup your data is to simply copy your Scratch Live folder to another location on the drive:

For the drive that contains "My Documents" (or your Home drive on Mac), just copy the Scratch Live folder which is in "My Documents\My Music\" to another location on this drive. Alternatively make a copy of the folder where it already is and rename it by adding the date to the folder name so you know what's in the backup.

To back up the database and crates from an external drive, copy the _ScratchLive_ folder (which is in the root of the drive) into another folder on the same drive.